First there were five. A quintet of Serie A sides - Roma, Fiorentina, Inter, Napoli, and Torino - had all secured passage to this season's Europa League round of 16. However, after the dust settled, only two - Fiorentina and Napoli - would survive to try their luck in the final eight.
The Nerazzurri had already dug themselves into a deep hole by failing to take advantage of Rodrigo Palacio's early goal against Wolfsburg at the Bundesliga's home ground and lost the first leg 3-1. As such, the pressure was on to make amends at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, but the task was too tall to undertake as they crashed out after losing the second leg on Thursday.
Currently with 37 points, Roberto Mancini's men sit a whopping 12 behind Lazio, who occupy the last Champions League berth. Whilst Champions League football is highly unlikely, they still have quite a lot of improvement to undertake if they wish to catch Fiorentina who are eight points ahead in fifth place. Yet, this will not be easy as their upcoming opponents, Sampdoria, are also fighting for a European football place. The Blucheriati have not lost a league match since their 2-1 reversal to Chievo back on February 15th and will be brimming with confidence having successfully powered 2-0 past Roma in their match last weekend.
Sinisa Mihajlovic's troops are also just behind Fiorentina on goal difference and will fancy their chances with an attack that boasts the likes of Eder, Stefano Okaka and Luis Muriel, as well as veteran striker Samuel Eto'o who will likely start against the team that he won a historic treble with back in 2010. However, they currently have drawn 12 out of their league games, which is the second-most of any of the 20 teams competing, with the exception of Empoli's 15.
Moreover, the hosts have not fared well historically against the la Beneamata. Not only did this corresponding fixture last season conclude as a 4-0 humiliation, but also Sampdoria have lost 71 out of their 131 matches against Inter. This is the most of any other Serie A side they have featured against. Not surprisingly, given this poor stat, they have also conceded a total of 241 goals against the Nerazzurri, which, again unfortunately turns out to be the most of any top-flight Italian side they have had as an opponent.
In fact, the hosts have failed to find a way past their opponents in their last five games, with Inter defeating them 2-0 earlier this year. The visitors, out of their eight most recent Serie A clashes currently boast a record of five wins and three draws, but given their poor form as of late one would not bet against Sampdoria from bucking the trend.
It will also be an interesting match on a personal level for both Mancini and Mihajlovic as the duo have been friends for quite some time. They both played at Sampdoria as well as Lazio before the Serbian served as the Italian's assistant whilst at Inter.
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